Disclaimer: As much as I wish I had her talent, I am not J.K. Rowling and did not create her vast Wizarding world. The plot is original, and maybe one day, with enough practice, I will be able to express on paper as efficiently as Ms. Rowling. With a lot of practice. Maybe.

Chapter 1: A Rather Slytherin Move

It was a quarter until the start of a new day, and the Prime Minister found himself with the foresight of worry he had learnt to expect when mysterious events began to creep into his country. Across the nation, there were reports of technological interruptions that even solar flares could not explain. Although grateful that this phenomenon was nothing as terrible as the inexplicable deaths during the term before his, he remained apprehensive. He sat alone, in his office, in all but silence save the sound of his teacup clinking on his desk placing the once hot beverage down as it no longer served its purpose. He closed his eyes when he heard the unwanted cough behind him, and mouthed the next few sentences along with its announcer. "To the Prime Minister of Muggles. Urgent we meet. Kindly respond immediately. Sincerely, Shacklebolt."

The Prime Minister turned to an expectant man in the irremovable painting. "Yes, I will see Shacklebolt. We both know that any scheduled conflicts will magically be resolved, if they have not been already." He turned to sit behind his desk and had no sooner placed himself in what he perceived as an imposing posture when the Minister of Magic, Kingsley Shacklebolt, appeared from green smoke, shattering all the Prime Minister's premeditated attempts of an authoritative appearance. The Minister of Magic had a natural commanding presence; the Prime Minister could easily deduce how he took office, despite his lack of political experience.

"Prime Minister, it is a pleasure meeting with you again," Shacklebolt began, sitting across from his host.

The Prime Minister sat first in silent observation, reluctant to return unfelt sentiments. Routinely, with the words of a diplomat, he inquired, "How may I help you, Minister of Magic?"

Shacklebolt smiled politely before his unexpected response. "I think I must apologize in advance, for I believe this will be a long conversation. I have, of course, had my staff take care of your other obligations for the day, should our conversation run even longer than I expect."

The Prime Minister tried his hardest to keep a stoic face, despite the numerous questions that inevitably followed Shacklebolt's preamble. He ran scenarios over in his head. Their magic wizard war had ended three years prior, much to the relief of the Prime Minister before him, as well as the rest of the country. Although there were random issues sprinkled throughout the post war years, nothing rose to the forefront that would cause such an alarm. Unless…

His train of thought was interrupted by the other minister. "I can see your brow wrinkle more and more by the second. Now I must apologize for a second time, for causing you unnecessary worry."

"How can I not be worried, when every time a Minister of Magic appears in this office it is to explain horrific events or forewarn the current Prime Minister of upcoming horrific events? But even these conversations last less than an hour. If you have rescheduled my appointments for the day, I hate to think…"

Again Shacklebolt interrupted him before his thoughts became too morbid. "I assure you, Prime Minister, that the reason for our conversation will be for deficiency in my knowledge of Muggle history, and not for anything as dark as the path your mind is taking you." The Prime Minister's body visibly relaxed, so Shacklebolt continued, "The magical community is significantly smaller than the muggle one, and in many ways it makes our people easier to manage. Many a dark witch or wizard has been expunged by a more powerful witch or wizard before conflict can damage a whole nation. However, Voldemort was an unusually intelligent dark wizard; he built up followers by amplifying prejudices while deceiving others with his charm, all without detection and for over a decade. Our nation was split and the Second Wizarding War cost us dearly. I need not go into details the depressing aftereffects of a civil war, as I have read about many in your Muggle world history, and they generally seem to parallel our circumstance." At this Shacklebolt let out a quiet sigh and sat in silence looking at his hands.

"Minister, I must admit I am relieved if in fact you have not come with some catastrophic news that will affect my people. However, if this discussion will lead into hours as you anticipate, I must defer you to get to the point."

"Of course, Prime Minister." Shacklebolt leaned forward and continued, "Two months ago the Ministry of Labor and Commerce recently submitted their census. We have, amongst many problems, a very real fear of extinction of our kind. So many youths died fighting for their cause, and older generations are unwilling to reproduce. We are left with a small population of less than 1,000 seventeen to fifty year olds, and my ministry has debated for over a month on possible solutions. Although I was an auror before this position, I have always appreciated the value of history. Unfortunately, our history has no records of the problem on possible extinction. From one of my trusted staff (who has Muggle parents) I have since learned that there are a few times countries have had to find creative solutions to population problems. I must admit, I was amazed that she could quickly retrieve such information, considering muggle world history is so vast. But then she showed me your muggle secret. Something about a net."

The Prime Minister was taken aback. Never had he interacted with the Minister of Magic in which he had the upper hand! Tossing aside the idea that witches can come from muggles (a slow realization crept into his head of his true ignorance to the reasons for their magical civil war), he asked, "I have two immediate questions. One-is your use of the internet related to our blackouts and two—what possible solutions has your ministry compiled?"

"Your first question I cannot answer, because I do not know what a blackout is in terms of this net thing. But I can tell you in four words the gist of the solutions. Enacting a marriage law."

The Prime Minister scoffed at this and sat back in his now comfortable chair. "I have never read when forcing marriage has worked. Countries throughout time have had to redact and amend their marriage laws after great pushback and sometimes from severe consequences of their people. I am surprised your trusted Muggle witch did not give you the research to oppose this idea."

Shacklebolt ignored the Muggle witch oxymoron. "She did. She is one of the reasons why I have yet to pass the proposed law. She suggested I speak with you. If you don't mind, I would like her to scribe this meeting. May I invite her in?"

"Why not? If she is a Muggle, then she must have some common sense. What is her name?"

"Hermione Granger."